Sten M-11/9 less desirable?

[A&S Conversions]

The question I would have is how many magazines come with the gun? Sten mags can be a real crapshoot. Maybe they are good, maybe they are bad. I remember one guy saying he bought 25 Sten mags and only 13 of them fed reliably. So he sold off the other 12 and bought another 25. As I recall the next batch had 16 good ones. So he sold off the other 9 mags. I think he said he was buying the mags 25 for $100 shipped. Today, who knows what you will get. Where as Zmags need to be broken in but have a very good reputation for working. I like to have plenty of mags to load at home so I am not wasting range time loading mags. If I was going to buy another M11/NINE, I would be hesitant to buy a Sten converted one that only came with one mag because it will be more challenging to buy reliable Sten mags than to buy reliable Zmags. YMMV.

Scott

 

[sp3worker]

The question I would have is how many magazines come with the gun? Sten mags can be a real crapshoot. Maybe they are good, maybe they are bad. I remember one guy saying he bought 25 Sten mags and only 13 of them fed reliably. So he sold off the other 12 and bought another 25. As I recall the next batch had 16 good ones. So he sold off the other 9 mags. I think he said he was buying the mags 25 for $100 shipped. Today, who knows what you will get. Where as Zmags need to be broken in but have a very good reputation for working. I like to have plenty of mags to load at home so I am not wasting range time loading mags. If I was going to buy another M11/NINE, I would be hesitant to buy a Sten converted one that only came with one mag because it will be more challenging to buy reliable Sten mags than to buy reliable Zmags. YMMV.

Scott

That is a possibility, but with mine I have yet to have a mag that didn't run.

 

[Bill in VA]

That is a possibility, but with mine I have yet to have a mag that didn't run.

Same here. I've had my Sten-converted M11/Nine since 1999 when I had Craig Wheatley/Tactical Innovations do the conversion. Every Sten magazine I've ever bought/owned/tried has run flawlessly in my gun; the same can be said for Lanchester magazines.

 

[Kaliburz]

I just got a M11 that uses Sten mags off Gunbroker for $550. It is my 1st Cobray & I bought it since I already have a bunch of Sten mags. Bought them between 2000 & 2004 when the AWB was still in effect.

It came with 1 Sten magazine. As I am new to Cobray's, I assumed that the Sten mags were stock to work in Sten set up M11s. None of my stock Sten mags will lock correctly. It appears the single Sten mag that came with it has a "flat spacer" welded to the back where the mag catch latches. Then, when I compared my mag latch to a Sten mag latch online, they looked completely different! My catch looks like a normal mag catch?! The Sten catch I saw looks longer...

See attatched pic. Looks like I will have to mod my Sten mags...

Were there two type of conversions to use Sten mags? Prior to replying here, I did a quick search & it sounds like a flat spacer added to Sten mags was one. An other posts/replies say no mods done to mags...

 

[Jmacken37]

I’m gonna assume you have a semi auto gun....

 

[Kaliburz]

I’m gonna assume you have a semi auto gun....

Yes.

 

[Kursk]

Sten mags are definitely less desirable now. I have both a sten MV5 and a regular magwell M11/9. I would consider a sten magwell M11 as less desirable today. At one time the conversion made sense, but not today, with shockwave mags available for the M11/9.

 

[sleepy]

In my opinion it’s worth about $500 less. Basically the cost of sending it off for Sam to convert it back. I just went through this with a small magwell 380 gun. They tend to bring less money then the large magwell and while it’s sitting in jail send it to Sam so your not wasting time. He also caught some problems with my front pin tabs that weren’t welded correctly from the factory which he fixed and reparked my gun and did some upgrades and test fired it. I now have a better then brand new m11a1 sitting at my dealer that runs flawless waiting for my form 4 to come in and I have less money in it then if I would of bought a large magwell from the beginning.

 

[hkg3k]

I just got a M11 that uses Sten mags off Gunbroker for $550. It is my 1st Cobray & I bought it since I already have a bunch of Sten mags. Bought them between 2000 & 2004 when the AWB was still in effect.

It came with 1 Sten magazine. As I am new to Cobray's, I assumed that the Sten mags were stock to work in Sten set up M11s. None of my stock Sten mags will lock correctly. It appears the single Sten mag that came with it has a "flat spacer" welded to the back where the mag catch latches. Then, when I compared my mag latch to a Sten mag latch online, they looked completely different! My catch looks like a normal mag catch?! The Sten catch I saw looks longer...

See attatched pic. Looks like I will have to mod my Sten mags...

Were there two type of conversions to use Sten mags? Prior to replying here, I did a quick search & it sounds like a flat spacer added to Sten mags was one. An other posts/replies say no mods done to mags...

You have a factory original gun. The first M11/9s were built utilizing STEN mags and they developed the Zytel mags at some point later IIRC. I've seen several factory STEN semi guns 1st hand...but never a factory STEN full auto gun.

 

[Kaliburz]

Hkg3k- thanks for the info. Guess I have a factory Sten mag well gun, a piece of history.. lol. Prefix on sn is 83....

Fired it today & it had issues. Looks like round hangs up on gap betweek barrel and feed ramp. Few rounds I tried got shoved back into case... might be a mag issue, but only 1 mag. Is that gap normal? Or...

I have Sten mags, but I would have to weld the tab spacer on them. The 1 mag I got, the spacer was JB Welded in place. Also, does anyone have a measurment for the location of spacer? I only have this one mag to go by.... so... more info would be nice. And would a reference measurmeant be good from top of mag or the rectangular slot on the back?

I can try to tweek the mag lips to see if it will tip the round up a bit more so it is not ao flat...

I should just start a new thread so I don't hijack this one...